The year is 2066. A Caltech intern inadvertently notices an anomaly from a space telescope—something is approaching Saturn, and decelerating. Space objects don’t decelerate. Spaceships do.

A flurry of top-level government meetings produces the inescapable conclusion: Whatever built that ship is at least one hundred years ahead in hard and soft technology, and whoever can get their hands on it exclusively and bring it back will have an advantage so large, no other nation can compete. A conclusion the Chinese definitely agree with when they find out.

The race is on, and an remarkable adventure begins—an epic tale of courage, treachery, resourcefulness, secrets, surprises, and astonishing human and technological discovery, as the members of a hastily thrown-together crew find their strength and wits tested against adversaries both of this earth and beyond. What happens is nothing like you expect—and everything you could want from one of the world’s greatest masters of suspense.

My Review:

I seem to be on a science fiction kick lately and decided to borrow this one from my library last time I was in need of a new audiobook. Have never read this author before and didn’t know much about the book beyond the synopsis sounded interesting. Have to say it was a pretty entertaining listen and I’m glad it crossed my path.

First off if you are a fan of The Martian by Andy Weir then you will most likely enjoy this book too. Saturn Run is a balanced blend of real scientific theory and science fiction. The author shares at the end that they wanted this book to be as scientifically accurate as possible while delivering a compelling plot. I do believe they succeeded. Of course, much of the science went over my head but they did a wonderful job of delivering it as to make a science illiterate like me not feel too dumb. They also didn’t make the story too technical and threw in plenty of drama between the characters to keep most any reader entertained.

Being set in the near future much of what takes place is in a society that much of us will recognize, unfortunately not much has changed in regards to human maturity level as much of this book centers around the Chinese and American’s power struggle over this chance to control alien technology. It was an interesting choice as to how the author’s dealt with the idea of alien races and in order to not spoil anything I’m not going to say more. I was a tad disappointed but eventually warmed up to their choice as the most logical and plausible way humans will first interact with other species that call our galaxy home.

I didn’t find myself becoming as attached to any characters as I did in The Martian but did find a few souls to root for during the story. I have to say though that this book was a far more interesting study in how we as a human race are our own worst enemy. We need to get over the idea that we are all so different and realize we are all one species. Until then much of what holds our society back will not be overcome.

Bottom line good read that makes you think and keeps you entertained. I recommend.